TODAY IN SCIENCE HISTORY
NEWSLETTER • 26 JUNE
On 26 Jun 1999, writing of this site’s second major web page was started. A few days later, it had additional descriptive pages for most of the entries, making it still one of the most extensive of the site’s Today in Science History pages. Devoting many days to producing a single Today page was not sustainable, therefore much more than a dozen years later, it is still a work in progress. And still fun!
Take a look at the page for 26 June and take your pick from the various “Read More” links. Alternatively, for a surprise, just click on the mouse image above, or any of the copies of the page’s many and varied “More” links below:
On 26 Jun 1834, Sir Gilbert Blane died, the Scottish physician who as head of the Navy Medical board in 1834 introduced a diet including lemon juice for the British Navy's sailors, thus eliminating the loss of manpower to the sickness of scurvy. Today's book pick is: Scurvy, by Stephen Bown. This author’s fluent history shows that medicine of the time wasn’t yet experimental and analytic, or even materialistic, but still sought spiritual or essential reasons for disease.
The author tells the story well, and he presents a vivid picture of life aboard ship during the age of sail-brutal captains; dangerous work; rotting food; filthy, overcrowded living quarters; and the ultimate horror, scurvy. After Blane’s triumph, scurvy-free British seamen destroyed Napoleon’s numerically superior but scurvy-ridden navy. Yet 30 years earlier, before Blane's solution, Britain may have lost its 13 American colonies when its sick sailors were overwhelmed by France’s much larger (though also sick) forces.
It is available from Amazon, typically about New from $12.61. Used from $5.40. (As of earlier time of writing - subject to change.)
 | And it has been sarcastically said, that there is a wide difference between a good physician and a bad one, but a small difference between a good physician and no physician at all; by which it is meant to insinuate, that the mischievous officiousness of art does commonly more than counterbalance any benefit derivable from it. — Sir Gilbert Blane, Scottish physician (died 26 Jun 1834).  |
 | Do not imagine that mathematics is harsh and crabbed, and repulsive to common sense. It is merely the etherealisation of common sense. — Baron William Thomson Kelvin, Irish physicist, mathematician and engineer (born 26 Jun 1824). |
 | Nature, who is a great economist, converts the recreation of one animal to the support of another. — Gilbert White, English clergyman and naturalist (died 26 Jun 1793). |
| Before you look at today's web page, see if you can answer some of these questions about the events that happened on this day. Some of the names are very familiar. Others will likely stump you. Tickle your curiosity with these questions, then check your answers on today's web page. | |
| Births | |
| | Born 26 Jun 1824 as William Thomson, he became an influential physicist, mathematician and engineer who has been described as a Newton of his era. At Glasgow University, Scotland, he was a professor for over half a century. His activities ranged from being the brains behind the laying of a transatlantic telephone cable, to attempting to calculate the age of the earth from its rate of cooling. In 1892, when raised to the peerage he chose his title as Lord Kelvin. From where did he take the name Kelvin? |
 | On 26 Jun 1730, a certain French astronomer was born who was the first to compile a systematic catalog of “M objects” (1784), containing 103 star clusters, nebulae, and galaxies. He established alphanumeric names for the objects (M1, M2, etc.), which notation continues to be used in astronomy. Can you name this astronomer? |
| Deaths | |
 | Samuel Crompton was a British inventor (1753-1827) who, in 1779 during the Industrial Revolution, created what was known as a “mule” because it was a hybrid of the ideas of two earlier designs. What was the purpose his invention? |
| Events | |
 | In 1721, the first inoculations in America for a certain disease were given in Boston by Dr. Zabdiel Boylston. Reverend Cotton Mather, who lived in Boston, had previously heard from a slave of the practice being used in Africa. Of all the doctors Mather had urged to try it, Zabdiel Boylston, was the first doctor courageous enough to use the procedure. For what disease was this inoculation? |
 | On 26 Jun 1976, the world’s tallest self-supporting structure, a tower, was opened to the public. At a height of 1815 feet 5 inches it was then the tallest free-standing structure in the world, and held that claim until 2010. The three legs and central core were built hollow to ensure flexibility in winds, using reinforced concrete and post-tensioned steel. What is the name of this tower, from what was it named, and what was its major purpose? |
 | On 26 Jun 1797, Charles Newbold was issued the first US patent for a significant improvement on the plow, at a time when a similar plow of James Small had to be imported from Scotland. What was this significant improvement? |
Fast answers for the previous newsletter for June 25: protons and neutrons grouped in onion-like layers of concentric shells • entropy • the decade including the year 1943 (France) and 1947 (U.S.) • Peace • the same year • Mir.
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